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it fits Obama perfectly.
Posted on 12/14/2018 5:48:46 PM PST by conservative98
Are you daft? It’s time for Congress to do absolutely nothing. Get the government out of the health care business—permanently and entirely.
I wonder if this is similar to when the Obama administration would not defend the Defense of Marriage Act. If the Trump administration signals to the court that it will not defend Obamacare, it might be that the court can let the matter drop. If I recall correctly, at the time, Roberts was reasoning to the effect that the people elect Congress to pass the laws, and that the Court was reluctant to second guess Congress. Now though, if neither Congress nor the Trump Administration will defend Obamacare, maybe Roberts will consider the Obama refusal to defend DOMA as a precedent.
I had noticed the intent of the California AG to appeal but thought of the Supreme Court decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry. This was the gay marriage case arising from Proposition 8. The district court held Prop 8 as unconstitutional and the state refused to appeal. The Supreme court ruled that the proponents of the proposition did not have standing to appeal either to the 9th Circuit or to the Supreme Court which resulted in the district court decision being the final decision.
This case is based on a federal statute where Hollingsworth originated from a state constitutional provision but the issue of standing should be the same. Since Hollingsworth held that only the state had standing to appeal, a case could be made that on a federal case, only the Justice Department would have standing. The various state attorney generals should have no greater standing than the proponents of Proposition 8.
Obamacare was held to be constitutional as a tax, in 2012, on a 5-4 vote. Chief Justice Roberts held it was constitutional only because of its tax provision, and was joined by the four liberals who held that it was constitutional with or without the tax. This is called a “plurality” decision, and the only binding part of such a decision is what is agreed in BOTH the decision of the court (written by Roberts) AND in the concurring decision (agreed by the four liberals).
The tax was ended and, so, Obamacare is no longer constitutional. This is pretty clear.
The case will make its way to the Supreme Court and we can anticipate the the new lineup (with Scalia and Kennedy replaced by Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) will feature the same 4 to 4 among the liberals and conservatives, and that Roberts will again cast the tie-breaking vote. Who the hell knows what he will come up with, this time.
Supposing he continues to rule that Obamacare was only constitutional because of the now eliminated tax, the former, state-run system would be restored. Except that system is gone. Some equitable arrangement would have to be provided, such as all contracts currently in place are deemed legal, while states are allowed to re-invigorate their jurisdiction over health insurance at their pace providing they take no more than three years.
The Democrats will of course make re-invigorating Obamacare a focus of the 2020 elections. Perhaps they will honest this time and say if you like your plan, f your plan, and if you like your doctor, f your doctor. And, all that most working class people (you now, the deplorables) is that their out-of-pocket will increase by an average of $12,000 per year.
BTW this now closes the book on the last remaining legacy of Obama. It took us a while, but the body politic passed him like a gallstone.
LOL! Good luck with that.
He has no excuse to shred the Constitution this time...he had to invent the tax to do it last time and the "tax" that allowed him to do it no longer exist - even as the original penalty/fine...
Mole sauce? That looks more like SOS: stinking Obama sauce.
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